Need a little advice on choosing schools....

[jdaniels360]

Hey guys, i'm about to go into my junior year of undergrad as an exercise science major with a minor in psych. I just started researching PT schools this summer and currently have a big list of schools that I think could be a good fit for me. If anyone could give me ANY information/advice good or bad on ANY of these schools to help me narrow my list a little it would be much appreciated.

*EDIT

ODU
ARCADIA
TEMPLE
OSU
PUDGET SOUND
EMORY
U.WASH
PACIFIC.U
UNIV.OF.MIAMI
USC
UTAH
GVSU
BELLARMINE
EAST CAROLINA
COLUMBIA.U
NAU
OHIO.U
MARYLAND BALTIMORE
NORTHWESTERN
BOSTON
SUNNY STONYBROOK
UCF
UF
PITT
UIC
IU @IUPUI
UINDY
LIU
WAYNE STATE
USA
FGCU

Thanks again!

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[jchen707]

I'm a current first year at Emory. I love it so far... pretty tough schedule 8-4/8-5, but there are also a lot of days where we get out early. I have a blog that I'm gonna keep during the three years and try to update regularly (if i have time haha). notquitescrubsbutclose.blogspot.com
I also had applied to a couple of the other schools on your list but turned them all down when I got into Emory. I interviewed at Temple and ultimately, I just didn't like the area it was in. The medical library that houses anatomy lab was the only thing I really found to be "great". It was a brand new lab with touch screen online books. But you have to share your cadaver with the med students... We don't share cadavers at Emory (you get into groups of 4-5 for anatomy lab but your group is responsible for dissecting the entire body, you don't share with the med school). It didn't really occur to me until we started dissecting last week that it would be a pain to share the cadaver with the med students so it's nice not to. The facilities and faculty at emory are all really great as well. Emory also promotes interclass relationships (along with relationships within your class), so they pair you up with a big/mentor from the class above yours and i'm pretty happy that the second years right now really want to get to know us, we've all hung out a lot since we met them, and often go out as a huge group. hope that helps. if you have any other questions about emory, feel free to PM me

 

[callmecrazy]

Since you are open to such a large list of schools and have a bit of time before applying, I'd suggest taking a look at cost now to narrow your search. There have been countless posts of applicants being accepted before realizing tuition at a particular school is more than they had anticipated. You could narrow the list by anything over 120k, 100k, 60k, whatever a reasonable cutoff is for you. Better to do that now than after you spend the time, money, and energy applying to a ong list.

That being said, I went to Pitt and would recommend it largely for their clinical education. You spend your entire last 12 months interning in clinic full-time, in addition to 4 clinicals throughout first and second year. I felt well prepared coming out of school. And while I am biased, it's an awesome city too!

 

[jdaniels360]

Awesome response, keep em comin! thanks!

 

[Jarrodmac10]

UPS has a brand new facility and have an on-site clinic for second years. Downside is tuition ~ 85k. I'll be starting there this fall. They have a 98.9 first time NPTE pass rate, and a 100 NPTE pass rate overall. Took a tour the other day, and their kinesiology lab is funded by Nike... It's beautiful!! The program is competitive to get into, but a good choice. Plus the Pacific Northwest is awesome. One more thing, while I was volunteering, every PT (Eastern and Western WA) had nothing but great things to say about UPS and their graduates.

 

[Brandon1986]

I plan on applying to Ohio U as well. The campus is beautiful and the faculty that I met with were very friendly and helpful. Ohio State is really nice as well and they have a DPT/PhD combined program as well as a sports orthopedic residency for PT. However, OSU is very hard to get into. The average GPA for accepted applicants is 3.8 and GRE scores around 1200.

 

[GoBluePT]

GVSU - Their admissions are based almost strictly on gpa (or so I've heard from those both admitted and denied) and they also seem to admit a fair amount of people applying a 2nd or 3rd time. Facilities are great. The health sciences grad school is a fairly, new modern building and I was impressed with their lab equipment. Also, it's located in downtown Grand Rapids which is becoming more of a health care leader in the sate of Michigan and is a pretty cool city with a lot going on.

Wayne State - Don't require GRE. Verbal and written interviews required. Heavy preference to in state students, especially those who have completed courses at Wayne St. Nice enough facilities and an affiliation with the Detroit Medical Center (DMC) which is a pretty solid teaching hospital. "Specialize" in manual therapy/ortho.

UIC - They admitted a class of 52 from a pool over 1000 applicants. The admitted class averaged a 3.7 and a 1200 GRE. That's the extent of my experience with them, but I'd be sure I was going to be competitive and it was somewhere I was strongly considering before I spent money to send my app there. Northwestern is a similar situation, but they have a class size of 90, take more out of state students, and seem to place more focus on the application of a whole (i.e. not solely academics).

Another thing to look at besides tuition is what percentage of the class has been in-state/out of state historically or if a school gives preference to in-state students. A lot of schools have this info on their PTCAS page. Not sure where in the country you are, but your options are all over the map so it's something to think about. Obviously if you really want to go somewhere don't let this factor deter you from applying.

Hope that helps. All my experiences of course, others may have conflicting opinions/experiences.

 

[CherokeeWahine]

Puget Sound's location cannot be denied. The Pacific Northwest is absolutely gorgeous. I chose Puget Sound for several reasons, but a major reason was their clinical education format. I like the fact that we have an on-campus clinic that gives us hands-on experience very early on in the program. That way, we can hit the ground running when we go on our off-site clinical affiliations.

They just finished building a brand new, state-of-the-art Center for Health Sciences, so you don't have to worry about using outdated equipment.

I also enjoy our class format, because we are not in classes ALL day. For example, in my first semester (which will be starting in August), there is only one day where we are in class from 8-4. Most days, we are in class from 9 or 10 AM to 2 or 3 PM. That gives you more time to study.

It is very competitive to get into (as are most schools in Washington state), but it's well worth it. For more information, check out their website.

 

[jdaniels360]

These are great guys, valuable info! Sorry I forgot to provide location and stats, I'm actually at the University of Indianapolis in Indiana (*Another note I play basketball there which takes up almost ALL of my time). I have a 3.75 GPA and will be taking the GRE at the end of the year as soon as basketball dies down and I get some free time.

So far I've noted things to take into consideration are; location, price, in-state or out of state, and graduation rates and exam pass rates. I'm really not restricted on where I could end up, and would have no problem going cross country for the right program. I would love to narrow this list down to around 10 schools by the end of summer =)

 

[jesspt]

These are great guys, valuable info! Sorry I forgot to provide location and stats, I'm actually at the University of Indianapolis in Indiana (*Another note I play basketball there which takes up almost ALL of my time). I have a 3.75 GPA and will be taking the GRE at the end of the year as soon as basketball dies down and I get some free time.

So far I've noted things to take into consideration are; location, price, in-state or out of state, and graduation rates and exam pass rates. I'm really not restricted on where I could end up, and would have no problem going cross country for the right program. I would love to narrow this list down to around 10 schools by the end of summer =)

Search for previous threads, but cost should be the number one consideration, by a mile.

 

[NeophyteParkour]

Search for previous threads, but cost should be the number one consideration, by a mile.

I agree...completely.

Looking back on it, if I were to redo the whole process and apply again I would pay a lot more attention to prices. That really is the most important thing. I wouldn't have applied to some of the schools that I did if I had realized they were going to cost me ~$50k+ per year and without any sort of stipend available.

Pass rates are important too, but most of the schools I looked at were really high percentages anyway.

 

[jdaniels360]

Sounds about right from what I've been reading on these threads... From what I've heard it doesn't really matter what school you went to, just that you you are licensed and have completed the program. So the question I ask many of you guys is; why would you go to a super expensive school over a less expensive program when both have similar pass rates and perks/benefits?

 

[optionpaloma]

These are great guys, valuable info! Sorry I forgot to provide location and stats, I'm actually at the University of Indianapolis in Indiana (*Another note I play basketball there which takes up almost ALL of my time). I have a 3.75 GPA and will be taking the GRE at the end of the year as soon as basketball dies down and I get some free time.

So far I've noted things to take into consideration are; location, price, in-state or out of state, and graduation rates and exam pass rates. I'm really not restricted on where I could end up, and would have no problem going cross country for the right program. I would love to narrow this list down to around 10 schools by the end of summer =)

NAU -- In Flagstaff, which touts its closeness to the Grand Canyon, its ample outdoor opportunities, and its 7000 ft elevation. Lotsa pine trees, hiking trails, mountain biking, and snowboarding in the winter. A very walkable/bike-able town. The school is public, but it's possible for out-of-staters to get a tuition waiver to pay in-state rates the first year, and then residency is not hard to obtain for the last 2 years. Tuition is low, pass and graduation rates are high. They require an interview, so you can check out the town and school before deciding. So if you don't mind not being in a city or perhaps prefer to be away from a city (Phoenix is 2 hours away), may be a good fit.

On a side note, if you like pizza: there's a dude who's a former geologist (MA from NAU) who's originally from Indy who recently opened a Neapolitan-style pizza place there -- he was inspired by his pizza-eating while riding his bike throughout Italy. He imported his oven from Naples, and his stuff's the real deal; the oven's maintained at ~900 degrees and the pizzas cook in like 90 seconds. If you visit Flag, you should check it out.

 

[jchen707]

There are always intangibles involved. And these things can't really be measured. Some might argue the quality of education, and even just the interactions with faculty. Other intangibles might include (but not limited to) the overall atmosphere and culture fostered by the program. Some places don't have much interaction between the different classes, some do. Some schools admit a certain type of personality and you might fit in with that. Some of these intangibles might ultimately out weigh the cost of the school because if you're gonna be there for 3 years, you don't wanna be unhappy. Just to be clear, I'm not saying that all expensive private schools are better because they have certain intangibles, because i'm sure at some public schools most of the students are happy too. I'm just saying that it might be a reason to pick one school over the other... Another reason might be that it was the only school they got into.

 

[DPTHopeful921]

what would you say are your top 10 schools from that list, as of right now, and from what you have researched??

 

[jdaniels360]

I'm still looking at schools so as of right now I couldn't give you a top 10, but as soon as I figure it out I will be sure to post the list. But keep the advice coming if you have it! =)

 

[jdaniels360]

DPTHopeful, I'm sure I've asked you this before in another thread but I can't find it; you're GPA was average but you had decent GRE scores, yet still got into to great schools. What's your secret? What extracurricular activities did you do, how many observation hours etc. (If you could refer me to the thread instead of getting off-topic here that would work too)

 

[DPTHopeful921]

First off, there is no secret to getting into PT school. Its all in how you prepare and present your application and yourself. My extracurricular activities arent anything special. I play softball, try to golf a bit here and there, and do some umpiring at the local little league. I think over the past 3 years or so Ive done about 300ish hrs of observation, so roughly 100 hrs a year. I cant say that I interview really well bc I dont grade and score my interview. I really just give the best answers and best examples that I have experienced when I interview. I know the one thing that I worked especially hard on was my Personal Statement. Took the better part of 6 months before there was a finished product. I didnt submit my application super early or super late, so just right in the middle I would say. Sorry I cant be of any real help, or have a "secret" for getting into PT school.

 

[DPTHopeful921]

Well, one thing I forgot to mention was that schools that don't interview as part of their application process I made a point to go visit someone there. Whether it was a professor, someone from admissions, students, etc. Well, even some schools that did interviews, I still went and saw and visited with people there. I didn't do this for all of my schools I applied to, but did as many as I could. people will put a face with a name. Maybe this will help a little bit too...

 

[jdaniels360]

That's great advice! And I wish I had time to go visit most of the schools on my list, but like I said, with basketball and class on my plate 24/7, it's damn near impossible to get away, especially once the season starts. But once it's over that's when I get a little more free time. Having said that i'll also be studying for the GRE, finishing up with classes, and completing the required 300 hr internship for my degree at a local PT clinic (which is great for my hours)

 

[SB06]

I've taken some of my prereqs at IUPUI. I hear a lot of good things about UIndy but I don't have all the classes to apply there. I'm thinking of IU, but I'm also looking at NAU, Franlin Pearce in AZ, and Arkansas State. I have a limited number of schools available because I haven't taken Biology. Does anyone know about the programs for NAU, FP or ASU? Cost of tuition is definitely a big concern, but I want to be happy with the school and feel that I get a thorough education too.

 

[hardcoretastic]

Arkansas State was one of the schools I went and looked at. I decided not to go there because I would have had to taken 3 extra pre req classes to get in that I wasn't planning on taking. The list they have on their website for pre req courses is very deceiving in my opinion, might better contact them and specifically ask what you need. They want you to have upper division anatomy and physiology for sure that I remember like Gross Anatomy or Kinesology stuff like that. The good thing about the school she told me though that I liked is if your out of state and come in or maintain a 3.0 in the program (which you have to) then the graduate school waives Out of State tuition!! So it makes it pretty cheap. They also do NOT use the GRE (they think its a racist test) which was another plus i thought. The program is kinda spread out into two different buildings but one of them is brand new and very nice the other is ok its older. Jonesboro is also very hot in my opinion and its really out by itself from what I saw. I think driving from memphis the hour and half I saw maybe 2 or 3 gas stations before i got there. Any how it was nice but not for me.

 

[DPTHopeful921]

well jdaniels, its been almost 4 months since I asked you, so now what are your top 10 school choices? You have got to have narrowed them down by now.

 

[jdaniels360]

I sure have! I've decided that I want to stay closer to home because that's where the remainder of my family is located. The fact that I can get in state tuition in IN and IL was also a factor in the decision. So here is the tentative list in no particular order.

PACIFIC U, BELLARMINE, IU@IUPUI, UINDY, BRADLEY, BELMONT, GOVERNORS STATE, ROSALIND FRANKLIN, MIDWESTERN, NIU, FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL.

(There's a couple of exceptions that really appealed to me in FIU and Pacific U for various reasons.)

Thanks,

JD

 

[DPTHopeful921]

glad to hear you narrowed it down. Any word from any of them yet??

 

[jdaniels360]

I'm only a junior. I won't apply until this upcoming summer. Ahead of the game I guess.